Jim Jeffries "drying out" before the Jack Johnson fight

Still practiced by Marco Huck.

 

People in the past probably built resistance to pathogens though.

 

A small to moderate amount of alcohol is actually go for you, mostly wine.

Or you can get the same benefits by drinking grape juice

 

Entire regions of Europe mixed wine into their water or only drank wine as a result of unreliable and contaminated wells. This is represented in trade and tarriff documents going back centuries that forbade villages from selling their wine outside their own borders lest the population have nothing to drink. Even in 18th and 19th century America beer and cider were routinely drank for breakfast for this same reason.

 

There are several stories of boxers being denied water to make weight and trainers rubbing ice across their lips .Drying out meant limiting water intake!